Coming To Terms
by Oh im bored
Summary: After the event at the Ministry, Hermione is feeling something a bit different than what she's used to. A feeling she never could have dreamed of having.
1. Chapter 1

Coming To Terms

This takes place after the Trio's fifth year. Starts in the summer. I own nothing. J.K. Rowling owns everything, only the plot is mine.

Chapter One

Hermione sat in confusion. A book she had bought for summer reading sat open in front of her, sitting open on the same page for nearly an hour now. Hermione had read the same sentence over and over, comprehending none of it. Her mind had been wandering all over the place. To the impending mission upon them, to the past six years full of adventures she had experienced, and to the new feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. What was this feeling? She had felt it before, over a year ago; with a certain world famous Quidditch seeker. That feeling paled in comparison to what she was feeling now, and that's what confused her so deeply. These feelings shouldn't be overtaking her; she had always had a tight lock upon her emotions. Bottling up emotions had worked for years for her. Hermione was smart, and knew this wasn't healthy, but she wasn't one who liked to wear her heart on her sleeve.

This new emotion wasn't necessarily a new emotion. It was more of who it concerned and the intensity of the emotion. She had had minor crushes on classmates before, usually older ones. But she was just a young girl of 13 or 14 when she had these crushes, which were usually fueled by the good looks of the older boys. They intimidated her with their sully pouts and the fact that they towered over her. As a result, she never acted upon them. The butterflies in her stomach in those days were laughable compared to the god damn dragon breathing flames in her gut now.

She was awoken from her daze by a tapping on her window. Hermione turned her gaze to her window where Hedwig was currently impatiently sitting in the rain. She opened her window, took the letter from Hedwig's leg, and gave her an owl treat before Hedwig settled upon Hermione's bedpost. Hermione hastily opened the letter, and saw Harry's quick scribbling within.

_Hermione,_

_Thanks for writing me. I've been going crazy here at the Dursleys'. Sirius is the only thing on my mind. I've tried to take up other hobbies, but everything seems pointless. Occlumency is the only thing I actually try to get better at. I should've listened to you last year. You were right. You're always right. I should've practiced Occlumency more last year. Voldemort used it as a weapon just like you said he would. If I had just kept him out of my head, Sirius would be alive. It's all my fault._ _Anyways, enough about me._

_How's your summer going? I hope it's going well. Probably have your head stuck in some book like always. Probably counting down the days until we go back to school too, come to think of it. Send me something back whenever you can._

_Love,_

_Harry._

Hermione smiled sadly while reading the first part of the letter. Of course Harry would blame himself. He always did take things the hardest. Typical Harry though. She hated it though. She knew it wasn't his fault, and so did everyone else, but Harry wouldn't listen to any of them. It pained her so much to see him hurting so. Especially when she could see the teardrops dotting the parchment, which looked like they were hastily wiped away, as if not to stop the staining of the paper. Her heart ached for his pain.

She smiled a different kind of smile at the second part of the letter, though. Once again, typical Harry, being modest. Acting like she might not want to send him a letter back. She shook her head at that.

And the last two letters of the letter. He had written them hundreds of times before. But this time, they made Hermione's heart race. What if, by a crazy chance, he had feelings for her? She let her mind wander to fantasies of them kissing, walking down the halls of Hogwarts hand in hand. At the altar, raising kids together…..

She shook her head of these thoughts from her mind. What insane thoughts to have. She was in the middle of a wizarding war. She could think about that if she survived. With a sigh, Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment, and in her neat handwriting, started to write a response to Harry's letter.

_Harry,_

_ You can't blame yourself. You know you can't, so stop being foolish and doing that. What you can do now is make sure Sirius' death wasn't in vain. Can you imagine what'd he say if he saw you now? Moping all about because of him. Live to honor him. It pains me to see you like this, so help us both, and get better, okay?_

_ I've been pretty good this summer. Mum and Dad asked what happened at the end of semester, and I gave them the short version of what happened at the Ministry. I can't imagine how they would react to the real news. Not well, I imagine, so I'm not even going to tell them. _

_ Have you heard from Ron at all? He wrote to me last week saying he was worried about you. He said Molly wouldn't shut up about asking you to go and stay at the Burrow, even beg if he had to. You know Molly though. _

_ Anyways, I really look forward to hearing from you again. Don't be afraid to send me a letter, no matter the reason._

_ Much love,_

_ Hermione._

Hermione read through the letter multiple times before sending Hedwig off with another owl treat. She contemplated the ending for a few moments, wondering what she would say. It was then, with a sigh, that she finally came to terms with this new emotion.

She was in love with Harry Potter.

This idea came into my head earlier tonight and I thought I would put some words to the idea. The writing came out okay, so I thought I would post it and see what kind of feedback I got. Reviews are much appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Three Weeks Later

Hermione's heart was still fluttering. After she came to the realization that she was in love with one of her best friends, she had embraced it. There was no point in denying it. Why should she? She believed she deserved some happiness in the fucking messed up world they lived in. Voldemort was back. That terrified the shit out of her, and Harry too, who had started to confide over the past couple weeks every detail and intricacy of his personality. His fears, dreams, and all that jazz.

She anxiously awaited every tap on her window from Hedwig, who was starting to look run down from the constant flying from London to Little Whinging. Hermione had recently taken a trip to Diagon Alley on her own to buy her own owl to give Hedwig a break. She picked a plump brown barn owl and decided to name him Twig, due to his "small" stature. She picked up some parchment and quills, as she was running low from the constant writing, along with other school supplies and a couple books from Flourish and Blotts.

After two weeks of making small talk with her parents and trying to not go insane from boredom in her Muggle household, Hermione received a letter from Dumbledore, stating that she was to go to the Burrow in three days' time. She would be staying there for the rest of the summer with Ron and Harry. She was, however, asked to not tell Harry. Hermione let out a squeal of excitement at the prospect of seeing Harry. It had only been just under a month, but to her, it had seemed like the longest month she could remember. Even worse than the month of the Owl exams, and that was saying something.

Hermione packed her trunk and three days later, Mr. Weasley met her by a popular tavern in northern London, then apparated her to the Burrow. Hermione was given a bed in Ginny's room, and for the next two days, hung out with Ron and Ginny, with the Twins stopping in every now and then. The group played Quidditch, or more of two on two Quidditch with Hermione trying to stay in the air, cleaned up around the house, or the girls shopped in the local Muggle town. Finally, in the middle of the night, Harry finally arrived.

Hermione was always a light sleeper, and woke up to the sound of voices in the kitchen underneath her bedroom. She thought she heard Harry's voice, so she threw on a pair of slippers and crept out onto the balcony. Hermione felt Crookshanks slide past her legs, and then Harry's eager voice ask Mrs. Weasley if Hermione was at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley answered accordingly, and Dumbledore then bid Mrs. Weasley and Harry goodbye. After Dumbledore crossed the threshold, Mrs. Weasley then launched into the speech about Arthur's promotion that Hermione had seemed to have heard a thousand times. Mr. Weasley soon arrived, and Hermione heard the scoot of Harry's chair. She tiptoed back to her room quickly, and slipped under the covers. She heard Harry's soft footsteps, and then slipped under the covers. Hermione settled into a comfortable position and fell asleep with a smile upon her face.

The next morning, Hermione went to breakfast early, and was enjoying a plate of eggs and toast when Harry walked in, rubbing his eyes sleepily and with a bad case of bed head. Hermione froze with the fork halfway to her mouth, and gazed as Harry stretched and closed his eyes in bliss. Hermione put her fork down and ran to Harry, giving him a massive hug. Harry lost his balance and fell backwards with Hermione on top of them. Harry smiled as he opened his eyes and saw the mass of brown curls that was Hermione, and then noticed the proximity of their lips. Hermione felt her breathe quicken and heard a crazy in her voice yell, "_Kiss him!_" She shook the thought from her head and buried her face in his chest, taking in his scent.

She finally slid off Harry and stood up with his help. Hermione cooked up some more eggs and toast while she and Harry caught up on the past month, not that there was much to catch up on, as they had been writing to each other nearly constantly. Ron soon stumbled down the stairs and proceeded to eat double the serving Harry and Hermione ate.

After breakfast, the gang gathered up Ginny and the Twins and decided to go onto the Quidditch pitch to play a friendly game of 3 on 3. They split up into two teams: Harry, Fred, and Hermione versus Ron, George, and Ginny. The two teams played for about twenty minutes before Harry was speeding after the Snitch. It was just beyond his grasp when he heard a scream from behind him. Harry was speeding towards the woods lining the pitch. He quickly turned on a dime and sped towards Hermione, but not before she crashed through the brush and onto the hard dirt. Harry cradled her head in his hands and spotted a deep gash on Hermione's upper arm. He quickly ripped off his shirt and wrapped a tight tourniquet above the wound. Hermione gazed upon Harry's chiseled abs and felt a rush take over her head. _"This is going to be a long summer."_ Hermione thought before passing out.

This story seems to be going along pretty well. I'm actually enjoying writing it, but would still appreciate more reviews. No such thing as too many reviews. Like always, I don't own anything, J.K. Rowling owns everything. So remember, review, as I get paid in feedback, not money.


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